To Wish Upon A Fallen Star
by Ravvyn Z. Requiem
Summary: In the wake of SHIELD losing an ancient and mystical artifact, the two scientists work to locate it against the clock. But that isn't the only thing in their way. Ancient demons resurface, nightmares from their past. Everything draws them closer, but will one reach his breaking point? SLASH Bruce/Tony.
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: Don't, and never will own. Maybe in my wildest dreams, but those don't count.**

**Warnings: Foul language (dur), m/m SLASH. If it's not your thing, the back button is in the top left hand corner of your browser. Kindly use it. Violence. Mentions of suicide, self-harm, non-con.**

**A/N: Yay! Science bros! Honestly, I have so many feels, it's ridiculous. So here's a story, hope you enjoy. I'm not gonna waste your time with ridiculous notes, I mean, who reads them anyways? (I do... But I might just be weird.)**

_Chapter One_

"JARVIS, don't let him in," Tony Stark shouted from the workbench at which he sat tinkering with the Mach VIII.

"Sir, Director Fury is insisting he speak with you and the rest of the Avengers. It is a matter of urgency."

Tony sighed, "Thor went back to visit Asgard, Steve is off boxing or _something, _Romanoff and Barton are always with S.H.I.E.L.D anyways, and Bruce and I are busy. So can't he find the others first?"

Bruce Banner, who was studying a tablet at the other end of the room, looked up. "Did you need something, Tony?"

"What he needs, doctor, is a lesson in hospitality."

"Hospitality? I don't think it was offered at MIT when I was there." The sarcastic remark elicited a low chuckle from Banner and a grumble from Fury.

"Save the sarcasm for once Stark. I've called the rest of the Avengers here as well. They should be arriving shortly."

Tony sighed. After he'd rebuilt and rechristened Stark Tower as the Avengers Tower, all of the Avengers had begun to call it home. However, with the exception of Bruce, they'd all taken off for the weekend to do whatever they fancied in their free time. Well, Natasha and Clint were on a mission, but regardless, they weren't there. Even Pepper had gone off to Asia for a conference - probably to escape Tony's reaction to the announcement of her relationship with Steve Rogers, aka Captain America. Come to think of it, that was probably why everyone else left as well. The genius liked to convince himself he didn't care, they'd been over since a few months after the Manhattan disaster. After all, he was allergic to emotions.

"Sir," JARVIS broke through the billionaire's train of thought, "Mister Steve Rogers and Mister Thor have arrived."

Blinking a couple times, he sat up a little straighter, "Alright, let them in," he said wearily.

"Uhm... why don't we move to the living room? Or something? " Bruce interjected before Fury asked if Stark had been listening to a word he'd been saying.

As they got up to leave, the physicist vaguely wondered where his friend's mind had been, but dismissed it until later. They entered the foyer to be greeted by Thor and Steve. The tension was palpable as Iron Man and Captain America locked eyes. THor, thankfully, started to speak, "My friends, shall we not convene somewhere else?"

Everyone, including Tony and Steve nodded and they converged towards the topmost sitting room.

"So, what are we all doing here? And what about Agents Romanoff and Barton?" Banner inquired once they all sat down.

"They have already been debriefed and are currently pursuing the mission," Fury replied.

Tony set down the drink that JARVIS had brought him before speaking up, "Can't the lovebirds handle it?"

iThe director glared while Thor and Bruce hid snickers and small smiles. Rogers, in his husual manner, cut straight to the chase, unamused by Tony's snide remarks, "Sir, what is the mission?"

Fury relaxed slightly and sept his gaze around the small room. "This is more for Stark and Doctor Banner, but you all have the right to know. Our scans recently picked up reports of a foreign artifact. It's power is not unlinke that of the Tesseract. We had recently retrieved it from a Sanctuary in the AMazon. However, someone stole it - or rather, it disappeard."

There was a short pause before Stark burst out laughing. "You lost it didnt'you? You actually... lost something."

The Director sent the other man a piercing, one-eyed glare before talking again, "It emits a gamma signature, close to that of the Tesseract. It will be weaker though, it's not pure energy, more of a stone or metal. Much like what Mjölnir is made of."

"Mjölnir is crafted from a dead and fallen star," Thor rumbled, "If what you speak of is what I believe it to be, the it is more powerful than that and you should leave it lost.

"Just like the Tesseract," Rogers grumbled, "Sir, if this... star... is going to cause as much trouble as the Tesseract, the whatever took it can have it as far as I'm concerned."

The DIrector sighed heavily. He hadn't expected it to be all this difficult,.

"And if _whatever took it _is hostile? What then? We could be worse off than before," Bruce spoke softly, glancing around the room and wringing his hands. Everyone shrank back a little at the remark. Stark was, narurally, the first to speak. "Alright, we'll find it. But once we do, we're either leaving it with whatever has it, if it's not hostile, or we're sending it away. Or keeping it to be studied. In any event, I'm - we're - not going to let S.H.I.E.L.D take it to be weaponized. Agreed?"

The rest of the Avengers nodded. Nick Fury was a smart man. He knew that refusing Stark's offer would be foolish. And thy'd been right about the Tesseract so they could be right about this too. "Fine. You'll be working from headquarters. Your ride is waiting abouve the tower."

With that, the tall black man stood and lead the way out. TOny took another drink, smirking slightly as he followed them out. "Well kids, have fun on your ride."

He clapped the other scientist on the shoulder, and lowered his voice, "I'll see you soon. DOn't let htem give you too much trouble, okay?"

The physicist smiled slightly at the contack, returning the clap on the back. "Of course not. At least Loki isn't on board this time."

Stark chuckled slightly, "Well that's true enough."

With that remark, he backed away and stepped towards the edge. He held out his arms, enjoying the soft breeze for a moment before looking down. Just one step, all he had to do was keep his mouth shut - no. He couldn't. The nightmares, that's all they were. They weren't real. Shaking his head slightly, he gave a soft command before stepping off the edge of the building._  
_

"Stark!" Rogers called in alarm while Bruce ran to the edge, coming face to face with a fully suited Iron Man.

"What, miss me already Cap?" Tony's voice came through distorted through the faceplate. "Really, I'm not the suicidal type, Rogers."

The billionaire saw Bruce tilt his head to look up and meet his glowing eyes. Stark felt as if he'd read his thoughts earlier, caught his lie. The man knew him just that well. Oh well. Matters like that could be dealt with at later times. With a quick nod, Iron Man sped off as JARVS calibrated his navigation system to reach the aircraft carrier.

* * *

**Yes! Chapter One done. I'm on a roll! Feedback is love. I'll give cookies to people who review? Maybe...**

**See you next chapter, or in another story.**

**~Ravvyn**


	2. I'm Not The Suicidal Type

**Disclaimer: Don't, and never will own. Maybe in my wildest dreams, but those don't count.**

**Warnings: Foul language (dur), m/m SLASH. If it's not your thing, the back button is in the top left hand corner of your browser. Kindly use it. Violence. Mentions of suicide, self-harm, non-con.**

**A/N: Ah-right. Chapter one. Let's get this fuckin' ball rolling :)**

__[Chapter 1]

The team walked onto the bridge of the aircraft carrier as it took off from the Atlantic ocean.

"Since you've already been debriefed, I will leave you to your work," Fury announced.

The assembled heroes nodded, Bruce noting that Tony was nowhere to be found. "I guess I'll...uh...head to the lab then," the scientist muttered.

Even though they'd all been living together for quite a few months - Tony had convinced Bruce to stay for a month and he hadn't exactly been keen on letting him leave - he was still nervous around them. He could see the wariness and pity in his team mate's eyes. All except for Tony's. The brilliantly aggravating man still poked him, annoyed him, and kept trying to get him to relax. Not only that, but Tony was the only one who would raise his voice or show his temper around him.

Breaking free from his thoughts, Bruce looked through the window of the lab. The first thing he noticed was the broken glass littering the floor. Second was a very frustrated and angry Tony pacing back and forth while running a hand through unkempt hair. The dark haired man's posture was rigid with emotion. Banner opened the door silently, and the billionaire didn't notice his best friend standing behind him until he spoke, "What's wrong?"

Stark jumped and turned so quickly he stumbled backwards. Bruce caught his arm before he crashed into the glass laden table behind him, "Woah... I didn't mean to startle you."

"No, don't worry," the mask was back in place, and Tony was smiling back at him, "They didn't give you a hard time did they?"

Bruce shook his head, "Not at all. They just kind of... left me alone. But clearly something got to you."

The smile faltered slightly, and when it returned it wasn't as strong, "Don't worry about it. We should get to work finding this thing."

"Why do you even bother lying to me? I know you well enough to tell when you're not okay, Tony."

"Could we just drop it, Banner?" the genius turned as his eyes flashed in subdued anger, "We're here to work, not be a support group."

Sensing he was treading dangerous waters, the other scientist just held up his hands in surrender and nodded, "Yeah of course. Sorry," Bruce gave a small smile, "What have we got so far?"

Tony suppressed a growl as he replied, his voice short and clipped, "Not nearly enough."

Bruce frowned slightly, and looked back to his screens, "So..." he began slowly, after a moment's silence, "we're assuming this.. this artifact, or whatever it is, has the same energy signature as the Tesseract, correct?"

The billionaire grunted in reply.

"If that's the case, we should be using the same method to find it, correct?"

Tony shrugged, "I'm running the old algorithm as we speak, but it hasn't turned anything up yet. I modified it to accommodate for a variance in the wavelength as well. At this point, I think we just have to wait and see."

A sigh escaped the other scientist's lips, "More waiting, huh?"

Chocolate brown eyes narrowed as they looked at him, a swamp of murky and unknown emotion swirling in their depths. Before Bruce could ponder it further however, the door to the lab opened with a slight _swoosh_ and Natasha Romanoff stepped through.

"How's it going?"

Tony's eyes flashed for a second before he regained his composure. Bruce gave him a sideways glance, and filed it away in the section of his memory he kept for things to ask Tony about. If the agent noticed anything, she didn't give any hint of it. In the end, Stark shrugged and replied, "We don't have anything yet. We'll let you know when we have something."

Natasha nodded, "Well, if there's anything SHIELD can do –"

"Actually," the red head's gaze swung towards the physicist, "What else can you tell us about this star we're looking for?"

"I wish I could... But we only know as much as you. Clint and I were away on an unrelated mission, so we were just debriefed."

Bruce sighed, _Of course. But there has to be something else, there always is when SHIELD is involved._

Natasha, seeing that neither men before her were going to talk anymore, turned on her heel and walked back out.

"Well," Bruce began again, "There's not much more that we can do until we have more information. So, why don't you tell me what's on your mind, Tony."

His friend glowered at him, "What's the point? Talking doesn't change what happened. What's done is done."

The doctor looked slightly perplexed, "Is it about Pepper?"

Tony scoffed, "That... that's nothing. Nothing at all."

Taken aback, Bruce's eyes widened and he looked away. The swish of the automatic door signalled Tony's exit, and he sighed, resting his face in his hands. It was going to be a long mission.


End file.
